Production Process
All of the products at Ergane Textiles are hand woven by Florence Harmelin.
Hand weaving is an age-old craft, which provided humanity with clothes and fabrics for centuries. The earliest samples of woven material in Ireland date from 1600BC. Computerised looms now do most weaving, but hand weaving subsists in the realm of textile art and historical reconstruction.
The production process is the very element that creates the value a woven good since it is designed and made every step of the way by the craft worker. Thus both good craftsmanship and designer flair are necessary to create a unique piece. Like all handcrafted objects, hand woven pieces reflect the marriage of a strict traditional process and the individuality and vision of the maker.
The hand weaver needs the following tools to work: a winding mill, a loom, shuttles and bobbins. All accessories, including the loom, are hand-operated and non-electrical. Mostly they are made of wood, with strings and metal in parts. My loom is a 4-shaft Louet floor loom made in Holland.
A weave structure is composed of the interlacing of 2 groups of threads called the warp and the weft. The first step is the creation of the warp. Threads are being wound off their cones onto a board with pegs, the warping mill. This gives the warp a width, and a length.
The second phase is the dressing of the loom. The loom has a front beam and a back beam and the warp is attached to both. The warp is rolled in tension onto the back beam. Each thread is then passed through heddles in one of the 4 shafts following a chosen sequence. The threads are then passed through the metallic reed to ensure en even spread and tied to the front beam.
The third and last step is the weaving. The weft is wound on small bobbins, which are fastened inside a wooden shuttle. The weaver presses the pedals, throws the shuttle in the shed thus created and brings down the beater. Alternating the pedals pressed and adding rows of weft creates the weaving. A plain weave brings the weft up and down every warp thread. But many patterns are possible. Pattern books give numerous pedalling arrangements for each threading. Reflecting the past importance of weaving as a trade, these patterns where well kept, and most have a name and origin. Selecting and arranging types of yarn in the warp and in the weft create colour and texture.
Fineness, supplest, and regularity depend on the ratio of threads by inch, the type of threads used and the skill of the craftsman.
